Joan Garcia, Barca's goalkeeper, faced his former club Espanyol and helped his new team to a third straight clean sheet in the league


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Getting back to playing soccer after the winter break can lead to some strange results, but Barcelona avoided dropping points in a 2-0 derby win against Espanyol. Hansi Flick's team struggled to hit the targets in the first half, giving their rivals hope that they'd be able to get all three points, but that was dashed in the second half with Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski finding the back of the net in the second half of play.

Due to LaLiga having a winter break, Barcelona's last match was on Dec. 21, and while the time off did give the players the opportunity to reset, it also meant that there was plenty of rust to shake off in a bad match to do it in. The Derbi Barceloni has seen the two sides meet 219 times, and while Barcelona have won 129 of those meetings, Espanyol are a side on the rise, pushing for a Champions League place in the league.

Barcelona keeper Joan Garcia also felt the heat after crossing rivalry lines to become the starting keeper for Barca in the summer. He was booed heavily and called a rat by fans, but wouldn't let that stop him from making six saves during the match en route to a clean sheet for Barcelona.

In the first half, Espanyol were unlucky not to score, and they held Barcelona to only one shot on target before Flick made an important change at the half, introducing Fermin Lopez for Marcus Rashford. Fermin Lopez ended up assisting both of Barcelona's goals to help keep their title charge going.

While Real Madrid still have a match to play on Sunday against Real Betis, Barcelona have opened a seven-point lead atop LaLiga while winning their last eight matches in all competitions. Even their defensive issues have been better since Garcia's return to the lineup, keeping clean sheets in three consecutive matches league matches and four straight games overall. That defensive improvement is what will be important in holding off Real Madrid.

Xabi Alonso taking over Real Madrid ahead of this season was supposed to increase pressure in the title race, but as Barcelona's gap atop LaLiga widens both in points and goal difference, where Barcelona have a goal difference of 33 compared to Real Madrid's 20, it feels like the league is becoming Barcelona's to lose.

That success is something that will still need to translate into the Champions League, where Barcelona are among the contenders to win the entire thing. Their high line has caused issues at times, but when Garcia is making saves like the ones that he pulled off against his former club, it won't matter how many defenders Barcelona have up the pitch.

Next up, Barca will have their first shot at silverware this season, taking on Athletic Club in the Supercopa de España semifinal on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

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